Bacon Grease?

[GrahamCracker]

People are always talking about saving bacon grease here. What do you guys use it for? How do you store it? How long is it good for? Please discuss.

 

[TimHorn]

Glass jelly jar in the fridge, I try to only keep clean grease and have never had it go bad. Put a tea to tablespoon in about every vegetable I cook, put some in the pan oil for hashbrowns too.

 

[Tyler Durden]

why eat vegetables if you are going to add grease?

 

[mishatx]

yeah, that sounds gross.

 

[Idahorn2]

Taste, flavor, seasoning, that kind of thing. If you want to compare, boil up some beans with nothing but a half an onion. Then throw that batch out and try some with a pkg of salt bacon chopped up and the other half onion and see the difference.

Try some hash browns: a chopped onion cooked a little in 1/4 cup bacon grease, then add the potatoes, some S&P.

Julia Child is a little more sophisticated. Mince a couple shallots, cook them in 2 Tablespoons butter for a couple minutes, then add some chicken broth and a package of frozen green beans, S&P. Stir and reduce the liquid most of the way and serve up some very good beans. The same idea. Alternative for the shallots, etc., is just a dollop of bacon grease and some water.

 

[THEU]

It's not gross at all. I would assume that you have steamed some corn or maybe some brocolli and added some butter. That is a pretty common way to add a bit of extra flavour to those veggies. Bacon drippins or grease is pretty much doing the same thing. It is animal fat just like butter. The only difference is one is dairy fat and the other is meat fat, but they are pretty much the same make up. The other way to look at it, as others have said, is that bacon or ham is often cooked with beans or other veggies. This is basically just the fat cooked out and added instead of the fat and bit of meat. There is a technical cooking term for cooking the fat out of meats like bacon or salt pork. If you have heard of 'rendering bacon' then you are doing the same thing. Grease will last in the fridge pretty much like butter will. You can even freeze it if you like. I actually find it pretty funny that anyone would think this odd or gross.

 

[Olhorn]

Growing up in Houston so so so many years ago, bacon grease was routinely placed in a cannister by the stove that had a sreen to catch the bacon bits and so forth. It was used alll the time.

 

[MaximumBarnes]

If you want to make cornbread and don't have any bacon drippings, don't bother. As far as how long it keeps, that's a good question. I've had a jar in my fridge for a long time that I take and add grease from and to all the time that has yet to make me sick.

 

[Quadry]

My wife makes some kick *** green beans with bacon grease and bacon. Some bad mofos!

 

[GakFoo]

what do you use as a screen to filter the bits and pieces of bacon?

 

[bozo_casanova]

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[mishatx]

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[DeadHeadHorn]

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[kujotx]

How else you gonna start your roux?

 

[hrhorn]

Bacon grease is the key to good refried beans. I usually keep some in the fridge for that very reason.

 

[orangebones]

i scramble eggs with a spoonful every now and then

 

[Tex Pete]

I brush my teeth with it.

It also cured my grandma's cancer.

 

[SAChick]

growing up in the Valley there was always a jar or cup that held the bacon grease. Works great for refried beans and some over easy eggs. Basically anything you would use oil and would be good with a slight hint of bacon flavor. Unfortunatly I'm tyring to loose weight so I haven't even bought bacon in months.

 

[pevodog]

The essential fo southern cooking.

 

[shorty]

We had a spread at work and a black woman brought chicken fried in bacon grease. Oh my God, it was the best fried chicken I have eaten since Aunt Esther's fresh from the chicken coop fried chicken.

Bacon and bacon grease is a must for cooking fresh green beans with new potatoes.

I do use it for very few dishes because of the saturated fat. Used moderately it adds a ton of flavor.

Like stated above, store it in a jelly jar in the frig.

 

[judgroybeanbag]

Once I was out of butter, and made a grilled cheese with bacon grease. It was pretty damn good.

 

[wedgie]

Bacon and/or bacon grease is greatness in new tators, green beans as well as cabbage. I also use a very small amount when I go to the trouble of making twice baked tators

 

[hablue65]

If you are frying bacon for breakfast. You must fry your eggs in the bacon grease. I have a hard time eating eggs fried without bacon grease.

 

[ImissWallyPryor]

Enjoy your bypass surgery.

I'll stick to Smart Balance in place of butter or bacon grease. If I'm gonna get my cholesterol and saturated fat, I'll opt for a good steak, not veggies soaked in bacon fat.

Sorry to **** on the thread.

 

[si se puede]

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[Idahorn2]

Before I started my diet, the one you see on TV with Dan Marino, I took one of those treadmill tests where they put you thru your paces for up to 10 minutes if you can take it. I was significantly overwieght, but I lasted on the treadmill for 9 minutes 45 sec.

When the cardiologist looked at the print-out from the test, he did a double take when he looked at me. His remark was that it did not look like it could be my test. He added that I had the arteries of a 25 year old (I'm 58).

Thing is, I have never given a dam about all the health warnings. It was on the radio once that if you ate hay for thirty years, you might live two years longer when you are 80.

I have been an Atkins disciple for many years, i.e., lots of bacon and eggs. I just do my own treadmill for an hour 3 to 4 times a week for an hour, keepng the pump going at Dr. Coopers aerobic rate. Maybe it's in the genes.

Speaking of the diet, endorsed by Marino and lots of other similar types, it works better than anything I have ever tried. Having lost over 30 lb between Sept and Thanksgiving, I am about 1/3 of the way home.